I. Field of the Invention
The method and apparatus for configuration management relates generally to the field of software management and more particularly to a method and apparatus for providing configuration management of software used for a general computing device.
II. Description of the Related Art
In modern computing systems, it is often important to effectively manage a software configuration that is embodied within a computing system. Such computing systems include not only traditional computers found in businesses and homes, but also a wide variety of electronics, including wireless telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), automotive electronics, and so on. Such computing systems sometimes employ methods to ensure software compatibility by checking a current software version with that of a newer version of software to be loaded. However, these methods do not attempt to prevent an upgrade of existing software, or the introduction of new software, under certain conditions.
One example of a need to manage and control the type or version of software to be loaded onto a computing device can be found in security applications for such computing devices. For example, in a governmental organization where each person is given a wireless communication device, the organization might be segregated into different security levels. If a person having a lower security level were to acquire a wireless communication device belonging to a person having a higher security level, that person might try to load software onto the wireless communication device so that he might be able to access information that would be otherwise unavailable to him. In another aspect of this example, it would be desirable to only load authenticated software into the wireless communication device once the wireless communication device has been given to a person having a high security level. Authenticated software refers to software that has been distributed by a “trusted” source, and that it has not been altered.
Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus to perform configuration management and control for software used in a computing device.